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Contemporary Katowice

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Contemporary Katowice

The last two years have clearly highlighted the transformations that are taking place in almost all sectors and industries of the economy. Here, the COVID-19 pandemic has become either an intrinsic generator of transformations or their undeniable intensifier.

It is difficult to make unambiguous value judgments about such transformations. In some cases, they have had a very positive impact on the development the certain industries, such as e-commerce or courier services, while in others – such as MICE or HoReCa – they have clearly become the beginning of negative economic consequences that bear the hallmarks of a crisis.

 In this context, it is worth taking a closer look at the economy of Katowice in search of the most significant features determining the current directions and scale of its transformation. Most reports and studies stress the phenomenon of Katowice's economic transformation which, in just three decades, has completely shattered the city's decades-long stereotyped image. A good example of the changes is the development of business tourism, where Katowice before the pandemic recorded a steady upward trend exceeding the magic limit of 1 million visitors in 2019.

This is not just an effect of Katowice's effective promotional campaign, but a verifiable set of facts that have been objectively recognized and appreciated by, for example, granting the city the status of host of the 11th edition of the World Urban Forum, that will held in June 2022 under the theme Changing our cities towards a better future. So what is the phenomenon of Katowice and the new quality the city's economic structure, in which we can see the great dynamics of development? The answer is simple – in the last years the leading branches have become knowledge-based economic sectors.

A high level of education, knowledge of foreign languages, ability to work in a modern business environment, and familiarity with advanced IT and technological tools – these are the dominant features of employees who find employment in the most dynamically developing industries, and the abundant human resources of such high quality are currently one of the most important factors influencing the attractiveness of Katowice.

The knowledge-based industries, the development of which so significantly shapes the economic image of Katowice today, comprise three harmoniously connected areas – the business services sector, R&D centers of new technologies, and the creative industry, with a particular focus on the computer games sector.

The business services sector is the most talked about one because already in the middle of 2021 in Katowice and the Upper Silesia Metropolis in 115 centers providing IT, BPO, SSC/GBS, R&D services, located in the of Upper Silesia capital and the Metropolis, it gave employment to an impressive number of 27,500 people. By the end of 2021 there were 120 centers with a much higher level of employment. What needs to be particularly emphasized, this sector is characterized by an extraordinary diversity in terms of the type the services provided, because it includes both a wide range of IT and technology services, as well as telecommunication services, but also logistics, banking, finance and accounting, payroll, HR and human resources management services which are gaining more and more popularity in the international environment. The best proof of their scale and range is the fact that companies from this sector offer their clients specialized services in more than 30 languages!

 In relation to research and development centers for new technologies, it is worth pointing out, that they have a long tradition in the structure of science and the economy of the whole agglomeration and can boast an impressive track record, the particular attribute of which has been and still is a close relationship between the solutions developed and the needs of the dynamically operating industry. The change of the profile of these centers and directions of research results from economic transformations in the context of which the heavy mining, metallurgy, machine-building and chemical industries give way to the production of technologically advanced products for which innovative solutions based on the results of the latest scientific research and technical expertise are necessary, all the more so because the current research areas are being extended into completely new fields, such as technological effectiveness or nanotechnology. Katowice and Upper Silesia can also be impressive, cause the Silesian Voivodeship has the largest number the industrial, scientific and technological parks in Poland – 23, of which 8 centers are located in Katowice.

The importance of the creative industry, including the computer games industry, for the dynamic development of Katowice has already been mentioned in our last publication "Focus on Business" in the article "Katowice – the best game to play", one of the most spectacular proofs of the importance of the gaming industry in Katowice are the Intel Extreme Masters e-gaming championships, which take place every year in the capital of Upper Silesia and are a global event.

The above presented information shows, that the transformation the Katowice's economy towards knowledge- -based industries would not be possible, if it were not driven by science and education institutions. In the case Katowice and Metropolis GZM, they provide on the labour market 23,000 well-educated graduates every year. Therefore, it is worth pointing out what potential the Upper Silesia capital city can boast

Currently in GZM Metropolis operate 26 higher education institutions (including affiliates), educating ca. 90 thousand students, and Katowice has 11 universities with almost 52 thousand students. What requires special emphasis is closer direct cooperation of Katowice's universities with employers' organisations, production companies operating on the basis the advanced technologies, science and technology parks and business services sector. And yet, apart from the academic education, Katowice can also boast an excellent educational offer at the level of secondary education, which also includes, for example, the P-TECH world programme whose main goal is to support local communities by properly preparing young people to work in IT professions, where apart from a high school diploma they need appropriate skills, but not necessarily several years of the university education.

With such an impressive potential in the science and education area the City of Katowice in cooperation with the University of Silesia have been consistently striving to formally confirm its high status in education area as "a city with a special role in the science development". Therefore, as a result of joint actions, the prestigious title has been obtained and in 2024 Katowice will be the European Capital of Science!

Photo: Przemysław Borsuk, Katowice City Hall

 

This article comes from magazine:
FOCUS ON Business #3 March-April (2/2022)

FOCUS ON Business #3 March-April (2/2022) Check the issue